California shed 9,800 jobs in September but Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire posted gains, the state Employment Development Department reported Friday.

California saw a year-over-year gain of 297,000 jobs at a growth rate of 1.9 percent and the state’s unemployment rate dipped to 7.3 percent in September. That was down from 7.4 percent the previous month and 8.8 percent a year earlier.

“Unemployment in California has now fallen to its lowest rate in over six years,” said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. “We’ve been outpacing the nation in job growth. In September we added jobs at a year-over-year rate of 1.9 percent. The U.S. has hovered around 1.7 to 1.8 percent. This is the first time in months that we’ve been below the 2 percent threshold.”

Kleinhenz wasn’t overly concerned about September’s job losses.

“I would imagine that was an aberration,” he said. “We’ve been averaging about 22,000 jobs added month-to-month over the last three months and about the same since the beginning of the year. I would caution against any alarm about the 9,800 job losses because that number will be subject to revision, and we do bounce around a little bit from time to time.”

L.A. County employers added 27,900 jobs last month and the region’s unemployment rate dipped to 8 percent, down from a revised 8.1 percent in August and far below 9.7 percent a year ago. The county added 73,800 jobs over the past 12 months at an annual growth rate of 1.8 percent.

Government posted the biggest gain for September with 15,900 new jobs. That was followed by education and health services (7,400), professional and business services (3,800), transportation and utilities (1,900), construction (1,500) and manufacturing (500).

Monthly declines were seen in financial activities, leisure and hospitality and information services, among others.

Delphine Meagher, office manager for Delmari Builders, a Santa Clarita business that specializes in kitchen remodels and first- and second-story additions, said their business has been slow in the wake of the Great Recession.

The problem has been compounded by unlicensed contractors who often undercut their bids, only to provide shoddy work.

“We are still working and trying to give people estimates but we’re competing with illegals here in this country and that is a huge problem,” Meagher said. “We are constantly getting called to fix what these unlicensed contractors did … but there’s no money in that.”

Meagher said they’re hoping things will pick up in the next two or three years.

“We keep hoping things will get better but it doesn’t look that way,” she said. “People just don’t have a lot of money to throw around.”

The Inland Empire added 4,200 jobs in September and unemployment in the two-county region fell to 8.2 percent, down from 8.7 percent in August and 9.9 percent a year ago, the EDD reported.

The biggest monthly employment gains in San Bernardino and Riverside counties also came in government, which added 3,300 jobs. Trade, transportation and utilities added another 3,000 jobs. But leisure and hospitality shed 3,800 jobs and arts and entertainment lost another 900 jobs.

Year over year, the Inland Empire added nearly 30,000 jobs.

The region’s biggest annual employment boost came in trade, transportation and utilities, which added 9,800 jobs. Retail trade accounted for roughly 53 percent of that gain with 5,200 jobs added.

Eight other sectors added jobs year over year with the biggest gains coming in educational and health services (6,700 jobs), professional and business services (4,200 jobs) and leisure and hospitality (4,000 jobs).

The only sector to report a loss was “other services,” which includes repair and maintenance and personal and laundry services. That industry saw a decline 1,800 jobs.

“September’s year-over-year employment gain was the second lowest we’ve seen this year, so I would call this a modest report,” said John Husing, chief economist for the Inland Empire Economic Partnership.

The Inland Empire suffered the hardest hit during Southern California’s housing meltdown, but Husing said the region’s housing sector has gained a lot of ground since then.

“The share of homeowners who are underwater is now down to just a little over 15 percent,” he said. “At the high during the fourth quarter of 2007 it was 56 percent.”

Kevin Smith handles business news and editing for the Southern California News Group, which includes 11 newspapers, websites and social media channels. He covers everything from employment, technology and housing to retail, corporate mergers and business-based apps. Kevin often writes stories that highlight the local impact of trends occurring nationwide. And the focus is always to shed light on why those issues matter to readers in Southern California.